Life seems to be an unending quest for happiness. We are faced with a life that is realistically devoid of purpose, and we wander this earth blindly reaching out in front of us, groping around for any morsel of meaning and/or truth. Happiness sometimes seems like an unsolvable puzzle and we seem to think that somewhere out there is one solution, or a certain combination of elements which can fill the general emptiness that we experience. Is happiness, as a state of being, only an illusion? There cannot be some predestined path- some destination that we just have not reached yet. If we spend our lives tracking down happiness, do we not set ourselves up for a repetition of disappointment every day that we do not find it? Happiness is generally a spontaneous phenomena, spurred by stimuli from the external world. Not to say that we are destined for perpetual unhappiness; More like a natural state of uncertainty. An acceptance of the unknown. A humble admittance of our general ignorance in the face of questioning purpose and truth. I believe that we can more fully appreciate joy if we do not expect it because we are not entitled to it and more often than not, it will find us before we find it. Rather than seeing your life as a quest for happiness, accept it as a constant cultivation of being. In that way, you are propelled forward rather than fooled into settling for what you may assume to be the long sought after destination of your “happy life” because you fear that if you step away from that feeling for even a moment, it will be gone forever. Happiness is fleeting. Trying to tie it down to an environment or an object is like plucking an animal from the wild and placing it in a cage on display. It will eventually lose its spirit, and lose its mysterious beauty. It becomes predictable and less magical. So will your joy if you think it is meant to settle down. A “search” is an exhausting prospect, but a “journey” is revealing and prosperous. Joy is a spirit that manifests itself in an innumerable amount of situations, people, places, sensations, and experiences. Instead of seeing yourself as unhappy until you find your happiness, feed your uncertainty. Absorb all that life offers you and let your happiness find you. Let it catch you off guard while you are cultivating your being, and it will be all the more enchanting and beautiful.